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Friday, September 13, 2013

The Purl Soho Chevron Baby Blanket is donzo, peoples! I love a quick, fat knit, and boy oh boy, was this a quick fat knit! The yarn is doubled and it's knit up on 8mm, so it fairly zoomed along.

I must say, I think this is the softest, most cuddly thing I have ever knit. It's going to be the perfect blanket for tucking a wee one up in a pram when the wind gets chilly, or for throwing on the ground at the park to gaze up at the trees from. It's lovely, but also hardy and practical. I remember when Tyger was born I was given a small fleecy blanket (not handknit, alas) and at the time I thought "What am I doing to do with this small pink thing?!?", but wouldn't you know it became one of our most-used baby items, being washable and portable and warm, and to this day when she feels poorly the Tyger will request her butterfly blanket to curl under. Not that much of her fits under it anymore, but still - butterfly blanket must be had!

So babies + blankets = a good thing. I hope this blanket has such a happy future awaiting it!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

I know, I know. Another blanket soft fuzzy close up. What can I say, except that I am really enjoying knitting this up, and am rather quite sad that I'm up to the last colour. Sniff! The colour scheme, which reminds me of the tussle between clouds and sunshine on an uncertain day, perfectly sums up my feelings about this blanket. One minute I'm lavishing the blanket with the fondest of feelings: "Oh, I LOVE this blanket. It's so loverly! Sunshine all around!" and then next I'm dampening the darn thing with my tears: "But it's almost finished. It's like parting forever from a beloved one. Will my heart ever recover? The clouds, oh the clouds, how they descend so dark and grey. Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

This says two things to me: one, I really should stop getting so attached to blankets that I knit. Two, thank goodness I live in somewhat enlightened times, where it's ok to be a touch imaginative, and emotionally invested in one's handknits. Imagine proclaiming these thoughts 100 years ago. I would have been bundled off to a restorative sanatorium for overwrought females who knit too much in no time. Yikes!

Actually, now that I've visualised it, a quiet retreat for people who knit too much could be quite the thing. Especially if they allow you to keep knitting. And feed you excellent meals at least 3 times a day. And forcibly remove your smart phones, so that nobody can bug you and you can cure your addiction to Dots at the same time. Doesn't it just sound splendid? Right: must find one and book myself in immediately!

Thursday, September 05, 2013

Sabrina the rather bad-tempered dressmaker's dummy scarcely waited until Jorth had left the room before bursting forth with narky indignation. "What does she think she is doing? She was meant to be making Simplicity 1803 with a front yoke detail. Instead, she's ripped that off and is now basically making another version the same as the cabbage dress. This is meant to be new dress, not a redux!"

"She choked!" piped up a brave quick-un-pick, who had seen a bit of action that day, and as a result was feeling a bit more important than they usually did, which lent them some momentary courage.

It was just as well that the quick-un-pick did have that courage up their sleeve, because Sabrina rounded upon their statement immediately. "Tool! Listen here: It has been many a blue moon since Jorth choked over a sewing project, and if I have my way she won't be doing it on my watch!"

The poor quick-un-pick felt their tip go dull with fear, but was determined to put wrongs to rights. "Nooooooooo! You misunderstand me - she literally, actually, absolutely, decidedly, totally choked when she put the bodice with the yoke on. I can't believe you didn't see it - she was flailing about with her hands trying desperately to rip it off, claiming in a weird raspy squawk that she couldn't breathe with the darn thing on, and that wearing it was worse than going into anaphylactic shock!"

With a bewildered air the gutsy little quick-un-pick said "Truly - it was quite the spectacle. Are you sure you didn't see it?"

"Well", huffed Sabrina, slightly abashed for once, "an old mannequin such as myself needs her beauty sleep occasionally. I can't be keeping an eye on everything that goes on around here!"

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

The best part about knitting a blanket is that it isn't long before you look down at it and think to yourself, "Heh - this thing actually does look like a blanket!"

As opposed to when you knit a dress, and you think (a) what the hell am I doing and (b) what the heck is that piece for?!?

Another blanket virtue is that it keeps your knees super snuggly warm whilst you knit. Which is another reason why I gotta get this thing done pronto - it's already heating up here. Four chevrons down, three to go!

Monday, September 02, 2013

The nicest thing about Sunday was the weather. Being Father's Day, Galumph had declared that he would like to ride over to Brighton, and meet his dad for lunch. So I dug out some strappy sandals, threw on the cabbage dress and off we went, pedalling lazily in the glorious sunshine.

Oh, did I mention that Miette came along for the ride? Her very first outing, and I couldn't have picked a more perfect day for it!

This project was a LOT of fun, especially doing it as part of the knit-a-long at Handmaker's Factory. Not only did I get to hang out with some pretty amazing knitters, but I also mastered some awesome techniques, such as knitting from the top down and using the old magic loop method to knit the sleeves. Seriously, so much knitting fun should not be contained in a single garment!

Word from the wise, though: if you are attempting to knit this cardigan for yourself, the pattern is designed with 2 inches of negative ease. What does this mean for the layman? It means that the finished garment will be 2 inches smaller than your body's measurements (bust, waist, hip), so that the knit fits in a snug manner. If you like a looser garment, then you might need to move up a size. I knit the size 34, and trust me - it's a tight fit! If I do up the buttons, I could almost pass for one of those naughty but nice 1950's sweater girls! Well, minus the odd triangular bosoms.

Ahh, Miette. I am so glad you are finished. Yesterday was the perfect day for her - kept the sea breezes nicely at bay (Ha! A beach pun!) Speaking of finishing, I am most looking forward to seeing all the other finished Miettes from the knit-a-long. I think we need a Miette cocktail night, where we frighten the bar staff at some swish drinking hole by all turning up in the same cardigan. Slightly tipsy group photo, here we come!